06 November 2008

Here's an amusing and unusually satisfying piece of public art: a Prayer Booth.

I encountered this one in a vest-pocket park at Third Avenue and 59th Street. (I assume there are more scattered around the City. According to his website, there are booths in cities across the country.) The artist, Dylan Mortimer, may be sincere in his wish to encourage public prayer, and a free discussion of the same. But if he were completely free of irony, he wouldn't have had the work so closely resemble a phone booth. ("Operator. Information. Get me Jesus on the Line."....anyone remember Manhattan Transfer?)

The original, running Jeremiad on the vestiges of Old New York as they are steamrolled under or threatened by the currently ruthless real estate market and the City Fathers' disregard for Gotham's historical and cultural fabric. Est. January 2006.Contact Me

About Me

I have lived in New York City since 1988 and earn my bread as a writer. I began this blog in January 2006. Beyond that, don't be so nosy.
"I am not a pessimist; to perceive evil where it exists is, in my opinion, a form of optimism."
—Roberto Rossellini